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Friday, October 21, 2011

Dog Days

This one is going to be a simple update on the latest goings-on at Horseshoe Lake Animal Hospital. No agenda, no specific teaching points. My English professors would hate this! But it IS a blog, and not an essay, so....

We have seen several dogs with proptosed ("popped out") eyes in the past week. Gruesome. Usually this happens in flat-faced dogs with head trauma. Most of the time the eye is so badly damaged that we have to remove it. What is amazing is that these little guys seem really chipper in spite of their horrible appearance. The indomitable dog: one of the reasons I'm glad to take care of pets and not people.

We've also seen our share of cardiac problems lately. There are so many great diagnostic tests available for heart disease now, but it is still tricky to diagnose in some cases, much to my frustration. There is also an exciting new drug called Vetmedin for the treatment of canine heart failure. We've been prescribing it a lot lately!

Allergic ear, skin, and respiratory disease seems to be a year-round problem. As the seasons change, we see a new group of dogs (and cats) whose allergens rise in that particular season. The "summer allergy" pets are finally getting some relief, but it's been a rough fall for the "autumn allergy" gang.

Speaking of relief, how about those Cardinals? The bullpen finally lost a game for us last night, but otherwise the relief corps has been over-achieving. It is thrilling to live in St. Louis when the Cards are in the post-season. We are wearing Cardinals apparel every Friday to support the home team. Dr. Randla supported his hometown Phillies when we played them, but even he is on board now.

We received a surprise visit from Pastor Sig Bjorklund and members of St Lukes United Methodist Church on Wednesday. They brought in breakfast and a certificate for going "above and beyond" in our work here. It was really heartwarming to see the "heros" who work so hard here get some recognition. Some of them were brought to tears. On Thursday, I was treated to a delicious potluck lunch brought in by my staff here for Bosses Day. Yep, I'm getting fatter!

Well, that's it. A rambling recount of the latest happenings in our little world. I can't wait to see what next week will bring. Go Cardinals!